Record Numbers for Etihad Airways' First Quarter

Etihad Airways has enjoyed a record-breaking first quarter and remains on track to achieve its 2008 target of carrying six million passengers by the end of the year. The Abu Dhabi-based airline carried 1.4 million passengers during the first three months of 2008, compared to one million for the same period in 2007, an impressive increase of 40%.

The airline achieved average seat factors of 75% across its network of 45 destinations during the first quarter of 2008, which covers the months of January, February and March.

Year-on-year, the airline's seat factor has increased by seven percentage points as Etihad continues to expand its global flight schedule and add aircraft to a fleet which will grow to 40 by the end of 2008.

Yield, the average amount received per ticket, also rose by 25% compared to the same period last year.

Etihad has launched one new destination so far in 2008, starting flights to Beijing on 30 March. In the summer, the airline will also begin flying to Kozhikode (Calicut) and Chennai (Madras), after securing flying rights earlier this year to four new destinations in India.

Etihad is currently finalising when it will commence flights to the two other Indian destinations of Jaipur and Kolkata (Calcutta).

The airline also plans to fly to Moscow and the Kazakh city of Almaty in December 2008 and to the Belarus capital of Minsk early next year. Etihad will also boost its flying programme to Australia by the end of 2008, by increasing its existing daily service to Sydney to 11 flights per week.

During the first quarter of 2008, all Etihad's cabins experienced increased seat factors compared to the same period in 2007, with particularly strong performances coming from the airline's first and business class cabins.

Etihad's Asia Pacific services turned in a particularly strong performance with overall seat factors averaging 85% across the region, led by Bangkok (91%), Sydney (88%), Manila (86%) and Jakarta (84%).

Within Europe, services to Brussels, Manchester and Paris all achieved average seat factors of 85%, whilst loads to Toronto in North America exceeded 80%.

Routes in the Middle East which performed well during the quarter include Amman and Damascus, achieving average seat factors of 81 and 75%, respectively.

Services to northern Pakistan continued to experience strong demand during the first quarter, with Lahore achieving an average seat factor of 85%. Meanwhile, the Egyptian capital of Cairo remains the airline's most popular African route, achieving a seat factor of 81%.

A key highlight of the first quarter has been the performance of Etihad's premium cabins. Across the network, the airline's business class cabin achieved an average seat factor of 65%, with particularly strong performances on routes to Toronto (83%), Sydney (85%) and Bangkok (85%).

Etihad's new summer  programme is 47% larger than summer 2007, and will see the airline operate a total of 728 weekly flights compared to 494 in the same period last year.

In addition to the new routes to Beijing and Calicut, Etihad Airways is increasing the frequency of its flights to a number of key destinations within the GCC, Middle East, Europe, Indian sub-continent, Africa and the Asia Pacific region.

Etihad's strong network across the Middle East is being strengthened further this summer, with extra weekly services from Abu Dhabi to Amman (six flights at present to 10), Beirut (eight to 11) and Damascus (six to 10). Within Europe, flights to the Irish capital of Dublin have increased from six flights a week to a daily service.

Etihad flights to the Egyptian capital of Cairo are increasing from 10 flights a week to 12 and to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum from four flights a week to five. Within the Indian sub-continent, the airline's existing 13 flights a week service to Karachi in Pakistan is being boosted to a twice-daily service.

The first quarter of 2008 has also witnessed a record performance from Etihad's cargo division. Etihad Crystal Cargo has seen more than 60,000 global shipments, an increase of 20% compared to the first three months of 2007. These shipments had a combined weight of more than 43,000 tonnes.

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